The basics:
- a Chicago, IL, record label
- indie rock, punk rock and “other”
- run by Michael Lenzi and Jane Hirt
- 20 releases and counting
- more than 20 years old
- 95% vinyl
- Bands are Number One Cup, Tough Solar, Lenzi, Gold Medal, Bender, the Pulsars, Tart, The Velmas, Hooker, Scary Monsters, Pink Kross.
For more about Sweet Pea Records
Contact Michael at m.lenzi@att.net or 773-275-4464
Contact Jane at janejhirt@gmail.com or 773-991-4464
On Facebook and Instagram @sweetpearecords
Attention, Reward:
If you’re the mystery person who owns the URL sweetpearecords.com, show yourself, for Pete’s sake! We’ve tried to contact you, but you aren’t responding.
The full story:
Sweet Pea Records is a Chicago, Ill., indie-rock record label started in the early 1990s by Michael Lenzi and Jane Hirt. Our releases are composed mostly of Michael’s bands and his friends’ bands. After 16 releases, Sweet Pea went dark for much of the 2000s, but came back with a new release in 2015, a vinyl 12-inch by Lenzi
When Sweet Pea started, it released only 7-inch vinyl, but later the label branched into cassettes, 12-inches and CDs, one of them a 1996 benefit compilation for Chicago’s Doorika Theater Company. Most of the early 7-inches featured hand-screen-printed covers by Steve W. at Screwball Press on Western Ave. in Chicago.
We have never-been-played copies of some of the early releases, others are sold out. If you are interested in a snapshot of Chicago’s ’90s indie rock scene, you can buy them from us (or listen to some) at bandcamp.com. It was a cool time in Chicago. A pre-MP3 era with lots of DIY labels, independent record stores (Black Hole, Quaker Goes Deaf, Reckless) and awesome rock clubs like the late, great Lounge Ax on Lincoln Ave.
And here is an article including Sweet Pea Records from the Chicago Reader, written by Ben Kim, circa 1994.
Contact Sweet Pea Records
You can reach Jane at janejhirt@gmail.com and Michael at m.lenzi@att.net. Write to us. We’re very friendly. We’ve recently found some videos of our bands playing at Lounge Ax. You can watch them on our Facebook page. We’re also on Instagram @SweetPeaRecords.